{"id":36425,"date":"2018-12-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-18T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aebanca.es\/actualidad\/te-interesa\/aeb-informa\/with-a-weak-banking-sector-we-will-have-weak-financing\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T09:55:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T07:55:03","slug":"with-a-weak-banking-sector-we-will-have-weak-financing","status":"publish","type":"blog-aeb","link":"https:\/\/aebanca.es\/en\/actualidad\/te-interesa\/aeb-informa\/with-a-weak-banking-sector-we-will-have-weak-financing\/","title":{"rendered":"“With a weak banking sector, we will have weak financing”"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent days, recommendations for European cross-border mergers have intensified once again.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dani\u00e8le Nouy, President of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), has always been very emphatic in defending pan-European mergers. She has always said that we need European champions. We all believe we need pan-European banks; if none occur within ten years, the Banking Union will have failed, although this process is moving very slowly, slower than anticipated. And yet we need large banks that can compete with US or Chinese banking, which have banking giants. The financial crisis accelerated the search for solutions to create the European Banking Union, but once this crisis has passed, it is more difficult for countries to reach agreement. Germany is the most reluctant country. But my impression is that progress will ultimately be made. For the creation of the European guarantee fund, only Germany raises objections due to its issue with cooperatives and savings banks, which have mutual guarantees with benefits higher than 100,000 euros. With a new European Parliament and a new commission, the process to create a guarantee fund could be accelerated. <\/p>\n

Do you believe, then, that US banking poses a threat to European banking?<\/strong><\/p>\n

American banking has not only not lost ground to European banking, but has gained it, even though the financial crisis began in the US, which is somewhat paradoxical. This may be because they took a more agile approach to resolving the crisis and therefore gained leadership positions. But I believe Europe should not accept that leadership position. Europe is the world’s largest economy, although when Brexit occurs it will no longer be, but at this moment it is. Why, then, not have global players if we are the largest economy? And I hope the protagonists will be Spanish institutions, which are strong, international, and very well positioned in Europe. <\/p>\n

Will there be more mergers in Spain besides the planned one between Unicaja and Liberbank?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Following the crisis, Spain has undergone an intense consolidation process in the banking sector. Perhaps the largest in the entire eurozone. Nevertheless, the benefits of economies of scale continue to constitute a very important factor in this industry, which operates with increasingly smaller margins and must also address processes in the coming years such as regulatory requirements (MREL), digital transformation, and the transition toward a more sustainable economy free from the effects of climate change. For these processes and to gain profitability, the scale variable will be decisive. <\/p>\n

Will the sector recover its reputation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reputation takes a long time to earn and is lost immediately. At this moment, the banking sector has been completely unrelated to what has occurred with the tax regulations on stamp duty. Without doing anything, our reputation has been damaged. We have simply complied with the legislation. Society must be made aware that the presence of a sound banking sector in a country is very important because if we want strong and solid financing, it is essential to have sound banks. If we have a weak banking sector, we will have a weak economy. It must be remembered that the Spanish mortgage system has enabled Spaniards to have a much higher percentage of home ownership than in the rest of Europe, and with cheaper financing. And this has occurred because we had strong banks. If we want the banking sector to provide financing in bad times, which will come, we need strong banks. We must not fall into discouragement. It is difficult, but we will recover our reputation. <\/p>\n

<\/strong>Are politicians, judges, or society in general against the banking sector?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>The banking sector has never been popular. We cannot aspire to high popularity for the sector, but we can aspire to people understanding that in day-to-day life, that relationship with their bank is fundamental. Customers do not have a good opinion of the sector, but they do of the bank they work with. There is a differentiation between collective and individual perception. The customer is comfortable with their bank and that is why they entrust it with what is most valuable for living: their savings, a mortgage that will be with them for many years, and they trust their bank when it comes to protecting their data. Much more than other types of operators. What must be done is to improve the collective image. The image of the banker with a cigar and top hat disappeared many years ago. We are very small as a sector, representing only 2% to 3% of production, but without that 3% that the banking sector represents, it would be very difficult for the remaining 97% to function properly. <\/p>\n

Is the banking reputation so negative in the rest of<\/strong> Europe?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In all countries, at some point when difficulties have occurred, their reputation has declined. This is now happening in cases of money laundering operations, where there is much to discuss. The reputational situation in Spain is not very different from that of other countries in the region. <\/p>\n

Does political fragmentation influence the sector?<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>We must accept that the situation of reduced political stability will last a long time. We must learn to be Dutch or Danish. We must learn to live with political fragmentation. <\/p>\n

Will mortgages increase in price after the bank has to assume almost all costs, including stamp duty? <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>Spain is one of the countries with the most expensive non-financial costs in Europe. Stamp duty does not exist in most European countries, and where it does exist, the customer pays it and it is much lower. So we must be aware that if the non-financial costs of a mortgage are much more expensive in Spain than in other countries, this will undoubtedly have an impact on the cost of the mortgage. Furthermore, the transfer of these costs to prices will depend on the elasticity of supply and demand curves. Depending on the degree of competition and the strength of mortgage demand, we will have an effect on prices and available quantities. But what concerns me are phenomena of financial exclusion, because there is no worse treatment for a user than not having access to financing. I do not believe we are in that scenario, but we must be very careful in the future not to fall into a problem that does not currently exist in Spain, which is not having access to credit. That is where we must be most cautious. <\/p>\n

What is your opinion of the future mortgage law? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Improvements can be made. We see it as an opportunity to initiate a new relationship with the customer, with simpler products that give rise to fewer misunderstandings. Furthermore, we hope that the law will not contain elements that make it impossible to grant mortgages. For example, if a commission for early repayment of a fixed-rate mortgage is not permitted, it will be impossible for a bank to offer a fixed-rate mortgage because the customer can leave at any time, but the bank would be left with that cost. The cancellation commission is there to cover the cost the bank incurs for the interest rate hedging that the institution must undertake. If we want fixed-rate mortgages to be promoted in Spain, there must be an appropriate cancellation commission; otherwise, we will diverge further from Europe, which has more fixed-rate mortgages. <\/p>\n

Will the new law put an end to litigation and legal uncertainty?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The retroactive effects included in some rulings are very damaging, especially when the rules of the game in force have been complied with. We hope that with the new law, litigation will end or be reduced. We want to have a new relationship with the customer. <\/p>\n

Is competition tougher now, especially following the emergence of fintechs<\/em>? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Competition with fintechs<\/em> makes rivalry tougher than in the past. Technology also changes the level of competition in the sector. As soon as there is a business segment with significant profitability, a new operator will emerge that will attempt to perform that activity at a lower price than what the sector is doing. Technology radically changes competition, and especially how that degree of competition in the sector should be measured. The danger is that big tech<\/em> or fintechs<\/em> become banks in everything that is profitable for an institution, and leave what is not profitable only for banks, such as deposit-taking to transform their terms. Then there would be a problem, and not only a competitive one, since if banks only retain the deposit-taking part and lose the profitable auxiliary businesses, a potential problem of financing the productive economy would arise that would need to be resolved. That is why we want competitive equality. It is not possible for data protection to be higher in a bank than in a fintech<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Have we learned from the crisis?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Undoubtedly. I believe there will not be a new crisis like that of 2008, but there will be other crises as cycles are exhausted. <\/p>\n

Does the banking sector have unfinished business with corporate governance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

All sectors must make an effort in terms of corporate governance.<\/p>\n

Are you not concerned about financial exclusion due to the closure of<\/strong> branches?<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. Customers are increasingly operating through alternative channels. The demand for the teller window no longer exists. Branches are closing in medium-sized cities. But furthermore, digitalization allows customers in rural areas to have access to services as comprehensive as those available to someone living in a large city. <\/p>\n

What do you think of the commission of inquiry into the crisis?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We need supervisors who do everything necessary to prevent episodes like those in the past from occurring. The clearest case is the United States, where the instruments that supervisors now have to fight against a crisis like that of 2008 are inferior to those of that time as a consequence of political debate. We must give supervisors greater room for maneuver so they can do whatever is necessary to resolve crises. <\/p>\n

Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Rold\u00e1n, Chairman of the Spanish Banking Association<\/strong><\/p>\n

Download the interview<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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